'Open up multi-brand retail more for job push'

The government should opt for further opening up of the multibrand retail sector to create jobs, raise farmers' incomes and help in mo dernising the economy , the vice-chairman of NITI Aayog Rajiv Kumar has said.Surojit Gupta&Mahendra Singh | TNN | October 02, 2017, 07:51 IST

NEW DELHI: The government should opt for further opening up of the multibrand retail sector to create jobs, raise farmers' incomes and help in modernising the economy , the vice-chairman of NITI Aayog Rajiv Kumar has said.

“Absolutely. Couldn't agree with you more. I have been saying for the last six years since the report was published. I have known people from the government agreeing to it in private,“ Kumar told TOI when asked whether the government should further open the multi-brand retail sector.

Opening up the multibrand sector to global retail chains such as Walmart and others has been a politically-sensitive issue and successive governments have tread cautiously on it. Cur rently, the government allows 51% foreign direct investment (FDI) in the multibrand retail trading sector with several riders on investment in back-end infrastructure and strict local-sourcing norms. Kumar's comments come at a time when the government is facing criticism for the slowdown in growth and its inability to create jobs.Kumar took over the reins of the government think tank last month after noted economist Arvind Panagariya's de cision to return to academia in the US. The stiff conditions have deterred global giants to wait and watch although they are present in the wholesale cash-and-carry segment.

“I was talking to the Retailers Association of India, which had burned my effigies at that time, telling me that they will not oppose because we realise that the retail chain is perhaps the main bottleneck in the modernisation of the economy ,“ Kumar said, backing the idea of a fresh opening up of the sector.

“A modern retail chain sector is necessary condition for growth. This should be done, prices will come down, there will be no mark up,“ he added.

Kumar, who was the secretary general of the industry lobby group Ficci, had strongly backed the entry of global retail giants in the sector in 2014, saying it will be a “game changer“ like telecom and create jobs.

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